The robotics giant Boston Dynamics might be able to replace humans from the war scene
with their atlas robots that already look quite promising today.
A future where robots will be fighting wars on behalf of human beings or maybe not having
to deal with humans at all is very near considering the incredible progress of artificial intelligence
systems and with companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics working on humanoid robots
already.
Human lives have always been extremely valuable and we don’t want more humans to lose their
lives fighting wars.
With all the technology that we have today, it's time for us to think about robot soldiers
instead of putting humans on the battlefield.
But does this mean that our Modern wars will be fought between robots?
Will this finally put an end to casualties?
What if these robots become sentient?
Well this is a lot more important than you think so make sure to stick till the end to
know a lot more about Boston Dynamics’ major announcement of their new robots that might
replace soldiers really soon.
If you are into robotics, you might already know about Boston Dynamics.
The company builds robot dogs that open doors to humanoid robots like the Atlas.
The company is on a mission to make human lives a lot safer and simpler with its lifelike
robots.
But things were never easy for the company as they faced tough competition from other
engineering companies that create quadrupled robots.
But the company still stands out from the rest all thanks to its technology and sophisticated
lifelike robots that can be used in different industries and also in the military, which
is the reason why the company was able to captivate its audience's attention.
Boston Dynamics is a company that has a long and strong history.
Its founder, Marc Raibert, created the company as a spin off company from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology way back in 1992.
The company started creating interactive 3D computer simulations for the Naval Air Warfare
Center Training Systems Division.
This paved the way for Boston Dynamics to get to several other U.S. military projects
funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or also known as DARPA.
The company continued to produce new and innovative robots over the next three decades and then
CEO, Raibert was the reason why the company witnessed several innovations and acquisitions
including by Google and Soft bank group.
Things changed in June 2021, when Hyundai Motor Group acquired an eighty percent stake
in Boston Dynamics for about 1.1 billion dollars.
SoftBank, through their affiliates, holds the remaining 20%.
However, Boston Dynamics still operates as an independent business with a larger Hyundai
portfolio.
In 2019, Boston Dynamics acquired a Silicon Valley startup by the name Kinema Systems.
With this acquisition, Boston Dynamics was able to have new vision sensors and deep learning
to improve their awareness and abilities of the robots.
The company has always made significant innovations that demonstrate a wide variety of applications
for its robots all the way from getting supplies for troops to serving in construction sites
which means the company already has a wide portfolio of robots to cater to almost every
industry.
Boston Dynamics have been producing robots ever since the early 90s and they have made
significant progress ever since.
But it was the big dog that gave the company the much needed momentum, all thanks to its
ability to travel to rough terrain making it the first legged robot to achieve this
feat.
It was first designed for the US military, and the company was able to innovate further.
In Fact the very first physical robot to leave Boston Dynamics Laboratory was the Big Dog.
It was a rectangular bodied robot with four hydraulic legs.
The goal with this robot was to carry heavy objects over rough terrain, which will find
a lot of applications in the military.
The big dog was intended to be a robotic pack mule for the military.
It was designed to be extremely strong and nimble.
The goal with this robot was to traverse Rocky and uneven terrain with four legs rather than
wheels or tracks all thanks to its nature inspired design.
The big dog runs on a modified version of a Go Kart engine.
The engine powers the hydraulic pump, which then drives the hydraulic leg actuators.
It was technically successful, and also led the foundation for several other future products,
but it was discontinued due to it being extremely loud for combat, making it impractical.
Then the company gave us the PETMAN, a 2008 project developed by several companies and
agencies, which also includes Boston Dynamics for the US Army.
This invention was used to test special clothing used by soldiers for protection against chemical
attacks.
The PETMAN was designed to function as a normal person would.
It could stand, walk, crawl, and even perform some calisthenics.
These motions will allow researchers to evaluate the protective clothing in such a way that
it would be mimicking an actual person without putting a person in danger.
Then we had the LS3 or the legged squad support system.
It was roughly the size of a horse and could carry about 400LBS.
It was also 10 times quieter than the big dog and twice as fast making it extremely
practical for military use.
But the project had to be shut down by 2015.
But our main focus here would be the atlas bipedal humanoid robot which made its public
debut on July 11th 2013 because this is the robot that will be capable of replacing humans
in the future wars.
This is nothing less than remarkable.
Over the years the company was able to develop this robot to the next level as it can now
learn and grow by adding movement information to its motion libraries.
This optimizes trajectory and also incorporates that into complex routines.
The robot is also capable of perceiving its environment in real time and will adjust accordingly.
The robot can move, jump and crawl just like the old PETMAN.
But the depth and control of the motion that Atlas has is profoundly a lot more complex.
Undoubtedly, Atlas will save lives and eliminate unnecessary work, especially with its application
as a robotic soldier.
Atlas looks quite promising and once the company is able to give us a compact form factor that
is when humans will no longer have to fight wars.
But the question still remains: Is it ethical to use robots in war?
Well, when you look at war as a whole, it has always raised a number of important ethical
dilemmas and the advent of autonomous, or self-control robots might present us with
a whole new set of questions that needs to be answered.
Yes, companies like Boston Dynamics are here to help humanity as a whole by reducing the
number of casualties in case of a war.
The recent advancements in autonomous robots and artificial intelligence will fundamentally
change everything we know about future warfare.
The autonomous robots are not physiologically limited which means they can operate without
food or sleep.
They can also perceive things that people are simply not capable of, and they can also
move in ways humans cannot.
And as usual the devil lies in the details.
The only reason why we don't want war in the first place is to stop casualties, but if
robots are involved that urge for us to stop war might be gone forever because robots killing
robots might not evoke any empathy that we have for our own kind.
A variety of arguments against the use of robots have already been made, but there are
two prominent ones.
The first argument is that use of robot soldiers will cheapen the cost of war which will force
more countries to engage in war and it will be a common sight in the coming future.
In almost every conflict known to man, human casualties are the reason why we have political
pressure which influences leaders to withdraw from war.
During the war, robotic soldiers will simply shift that narrative with no casualties and
nobody would care to end the war.
The second argument is more specifically directed at the robots that are capable of killing.
These robots in its present stage are not capable of distinguishing between civilians
and enemy combatants.
In such a case, the robots will have the potential to target and kill innocent civilians, which
is not something that we want to happen.
Then we also have Scholars who argue that using robots and warfare may actually be more
ethical than not using robots because not using robots will result in the loss of several
innocent lives.
In the case of a war, the military and political leaders are ethically obliged to reduce casualties
as much as possible, and using robots may be one of the best methods to do so.
But on the flipside, because of the fact that these robotic soldiers lack the emotions,
they are immune to the stress of war.
These machines are therefore less likely to commit atrocities and more likely to follow
the rules of the war provided that they don't go sentient and end up killing just about
everybody else.
Everything here has to do with the power of decision making.
Should an autonomous robot be allowed to decide whether or not to target an enemy is a question
that we need to find an answer for before we have robotic soldiers on the battlefield.
We still have a lot to learn about the impact of autonomous humanoid robots on our goal
of decreasing the number of wars and violence associated with it.
But you have to give credit to Boston Dynamics for their expertise, technology and lifelike
robot capabilities and several viral videos that demonstrate their applications.
The company already has a vast range of Robots, especially when it comes to the military and
the company is already offering investors, competitors and consumers something worth
watching.
It's only a matter of time when our military might be replaced by fully autonomous humanoid
robots and that might change our warfare forever.